Music at the Cranehttp://thomascranelibrary.org/new-music
Whether you like rap, rock, classical or country, you'll find your favorite music at the Thomas Crane Public Library in Quincy, MA.Wed, 10 Jun 2015 15:11:10 +0000en-UShourly1http://wordpress.org/?v=3.4.2Dayna Kurtz: Rise and Fallhttp://thomascranelibrary.org/new-music/?p=9025
http://thomascranelibrary.org/new-music/?p=9025#commentsWed, 10 Jun 2015 15:11:10 +0000smurrayhttp://thomascranelibrary.org/new-music/?p=9025“Dayna Kurtz is a welcome addition to the New Orleans music scene. She’s a singer/songwriter with the forthrightness of a farm girl and the wiles of a New York cabaret veteran, a superb vocalist and a deft painter of emotions with simple, effective strokes. When she moved to New Orleans in 2012 she’d already built an impressive resume in the folk/roots/Americana tradition with a series of critically acclaimed albums and a powerful performance at the Lagniappe stage at Jazz Fest. Her life has taken some eventful turns since that move. The breakup of her marriage and the death of her father shadow the themes of Rise and Fall.” -John Swenson/offbeat.com

]]>http://thomascranelibrary.org/new-music/?feed=rss2&p=90250Rixton: Let the Roadhttp://thomascranelibrary.org/new-music/?p=9021
http://thomascranelibrary.org/new-music/?p=9021#commentsWed, 10 Jun 2015 15:04:38 +0000smurrayhttp://thomascranelibrary.org/new-music/?p=9021“Caught in an awkward place between the dance-rock cool of Ireland’s Two-Door Cinema Club and the earnest over-production of forgotten ’90s English boy band BBMak, Rixton are at their best when they’re being delightful or ridiculous, as the moments in between can be a bit boring. Produced by Benny Blanco, Robopop, Rob Golan, and Steve Mac, and featuring writing contributions from such ubiquitous contemporary pop luminaries as Ed Sheeran, Mike Posner, and Matchbox Twenty’s Rob Thomas, the group’s debut album, 2015′s Let the Road, is a slick, somewhat dull, but occasionally invigorating listen.” -allmusic.com

]]>http://thomascranelibrary.org/new-music/?feed=rss2&p=90210Thomas Ades/Calder Quartet: Ades: the 25th hourhttp://thomascranelibrary.org/new-music/?p=9018
http://thomascranelibrary.org/new-music/?p=9018#commentsWed, 10 Jun 2015 14:58:08 +0000smurrayhttp://thomascranelibrary.org/new-music/?p=9018“The album’s title comes from the final movement of The Four Quarters, a work depicting parts of the day that was commissioned for the Emerson String Quartet, but here receives its world-premiere recording. Despite the rather chilly church acoustic, this is a fine pick for collectors of contemporary chamber music in the classic media.” -allmusic.com

]]>http://thomascranelibrary.org/new-music/?feed=rss2&p=90180Kendrick Lamar: To Pimp A Butterflyhttp://thomascranelibrary.org/new-music/?p=9014
http://thomascranelibrary.org/new-music/?p=9014#commentsWed, 10 Jun 2015 14:31:04 +0000smurrayhttp://thomascranelibrary.org/new-music/?p=9014“Survivor’s guilt, realizing one’s destiny, and a Snoop Dogg performance of Doggystyle caliber are woven among it all; plus, highlights offer that Parliament-Funkadelic-styled subversion, as ‘The Blacker the Berry’ (‘The sweeter the juice’) offers revolutionary slogans and dips for the hip. Free your mind, and your ass will follow, and at the end of this beautiful black berry, there’s a miraculous ‘talk’ between Kendrick and the legendary 2Pac, as the brutalist trailblazer mentors this profound populist. To Pimp a Butterfly is as dark, intense, complicated, and violent as Picasso’s Guernica, and should hold the same importance for its genre and the same beauty for its intended audience.” -allmusic.com

]]>http://thomascranelibrary.org/new-music/?feed=rss2&p=90140Ludacris: Ludaversalhttp://thomascranelibrary.org/new-music/?p=9010
http://thomascranelibrary.org/new-music/?p=9010#commentsWed, 10 Jun 2015 14:22:20 +0000smurrayhttp://thomascranelibrary.org/new-music/?p=9010“Hip-hop has a towering pile of ‘the game needs me’ albums where an artist returns to stake their claim, but Ludaversal still feels fresh, alive, and needed, and maybe just because it comes from the unique voice that is Ludacris.”
-allmusic.com

]]>http://thomascranelibrary.org/new-music/?feed=rss2&p=90100Brian Wilson: No Pier Pressurehttp://thomascranelibrary.org/new-music/?p=9006
http://thomascranelibrary.org/new-music/?p=9006#commentsWed, 10 Jun 2015 14:12:12 +0000smurrayhttp://thomascranelibrary.org/new-music/?p=9006“Caught halfway between a back-to-basics move along the lines of TWGMTR and a star-studded extravaganza, No Pier Pressure certainly doesn’t have much to do with the high art that’s marked Wilson’s new millennium; there’s nary an echo of the SMiLE revival or the Van Dyke Parks collaboration That Lucky Old Sun. This is all sand, sun, and Saturday night nostalgia, a sensibility goosed by the addition of Al Jardine, David Marks, and Blondie Chaplin..” -allmusic.com

]]>http://thomascranelibrary.org/new-music/?feed=rss2&p=90060Natalie Prass: Natalie Prasshttp://thomascranelibrary.org/new-music/?p=9003
http://thomascranelibrary.org/new-music/?p=9003#commentsWed, 10 Jun 2015 14:02:25 +0000smurrayhttp://thomascranelibrary.org/new-music/?p=9003“Whenever the album floats upon its orchestrations or sighs along with its rich swaths of brass, there’s a lightness to Natalie Prass, a lightness that also reflects in songs that are sweetly melancholic, not sad. So enveloping is the sound that it can sometimes be easy to overlook Prass’ songs, which are as exquisitely crafted as her album’s production. Her eye for telling romantic details and gift for gorgeous, lilting melodies mean this debut sinks its hooks in deep and soon seems to belong alongside the classics it so plainly resembles.” -allmusic.com

]]>http://thomascranelibrary.org/new-music/?feed=rss2&p=90030Mumford & Sons: Wilder Mindhttp://thomascranelibrary.org/new-music/?p=9000
http://thomascranelibrary.org/new-music/?p=9000#commentsWed, 10 Jun 2015 13:35:18 +0000smurrayhttp://thomascranelibrary.org/new-music/?p=9000“Often, the persistent, moody murmur recalls a diluted Kings of Leon, a comparison that can’t help but underscore how Mumford & Sons have made the journey from retro throwback to glistening modern construction. Where once they carved their music out of reclaimed wood, they’re now all steel and glass — a bit sleeker but also a bit chillier. Such a description suggests this is a big shift, but it’s all surface: underneath that exterior, Wilder Mind is the same Mumford & Sons, peddling reasonably handsome reconstructions of times gone by.” -allmusic.com

]]>http://thomascranelibrary.org/new-music/?feed=rss2&p=90000Fall Out Boy: American Beauty/American Psychohttp://thomascranelibrary.org/new-music/?p=8997
http://thomascranelibrary.org/new-music/?p=8997#commentsWed, 10 Jun 2015 13:27:28 +0000smurrayhttp://thomascranelibrary.org/new-music/?p=8997“…a record built on the detritus of the last four decades of consumer culture. Songs are anchored on samples of Suzanne Vega (‘Centuries’) or, better still, a bizarre appropriation of The Munsters theme (the wild, careening ‘Uma Thurman,’ where the Halloween surfer-swing attempts to replicate the sexy menace of Pulp Fiction), but these are essentially accents on a record that fully incorporates Pete Wentz’s rock & roll savior aspirations with Patrick Stump’s eager, earnest soul. This collaboration comes in the form of the slow-burning ‘The Kids Aren’t Alright’ (its whistled hook being a slyer nod to Peter Bjorn & John than the title’s allusion to the Who) and the full-on, spangled disco-rock of ‘Novocaine’ and ‘American Beauty/American Psycho’ — tracks whose imagination indicates that Fall Out Boy are able to harness their ambitions and accentuate their ideas as they start to creep toward middle age.” -allmusic.com

]]>http://thomascranelibrary.org/new-music/?feed=rss2&p=89970Courtney Barnett: Sometime I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sithttp://thomascranelibrary.org/new-music/?p=8993
http://thomascranelibrary.org/new-music/?p=8993#commentsWed, 10 Jun 2015 13:10:35 +0000smurrayhttp://thomascranelibrary.org/new-music/?p=8993“There are no frills here but there is a distinct, compelling voice evident in Barnett’s songs and music alike. That’s what makes Sometimes I Sit and Think, And Sometimes I Just Sit. so invigorating: it may have roots — perhaps even some inadvertent ones — but it’s music that lives thoroughly in the moment.” -allmusic.com